Mill fob



T. BLANCHARD.

Grinding Mill. No. 19,541. Patented March 9, 1858.

I "Tm MW W NWDQ THOMAS BLANCHARD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MILL FOR REDUCING SUBSTANCES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,541, dated March 9, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Tnosus BLANCH/1RD, of Boston, in the State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMills for Reducing Substances; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description'thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the mill with the hopperremoved; Fig. 2 a side elevation; and Fig. 3 a vertical section taken atthe line A, a of Fig. 1.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The object of my invention is to reduce grain into meal or flour, and toreduce other substances, such as have heretofore been generally reducedby grinding or crushing, and to effect this reduction of substances by ashearing action of two series of rotating disks. instead of log. orrushing action, whereby I am onablcd to obtain better results. as to thequality of the product, and quantity in proportion to the amountof powerapplied, than by any other known plan, while at the same time themachine is simple, cheap of construction, and not liable to derangement.And in view of the object to be accomplished my said invention consistsin the em loymcnt in combination with each other, 0 two series ofcircular disks, the disks of each series arranged on a separate shaftside by side, with washers of less -:'ianieter and of slightly greaterthickness interposed, and the two shafts placed pa illel with each otherand at such distance apart that a portion of the periphery of the diskson each shaft shall pass in the spaces between the disks on the othershaft, the said shafts being geared to rotate in opposite directions andwith equal velocity, whereby the peripheries of the two series of disksin their roiittlflll in opposite directions jointly act as a series ofcontinuous shears to sever any material that may be interposed. andreduce it to particles of a of thc paw-s lwtwwu any two of thitlisi iu'li1 old let" a :iZY-c "HlIZFW in co inn; is h th t-=vo -rirt dbl-1('Ulllllll (it above d ribod, our sci-iv. of tationary (l centric platesfor each series of disks and interposed between the disks. for the pura.grinding, rasping, n:l.\-

size equal to the width pose of forcing the particles of the reducedsubstance from between any two of the disks and discharge it at theperipher In the accompanying drawings (a) represents a suitable frame,and (b, b) we par-; allel shafts mounted therein. At one end the twoshafts are geared with two spur wheels of equal diameter so that wheneither of the said shafts is rotated by a crank (c) or by any othersuitable means the other shall rotate in the reverse direction and withequal velocity.

On each shaft is mounted a series of circular metallic plates or disks((1% with washers (e) interposed, the central iole in each disk, andeach washer being made to fit the shaft accurately, and preventedfromturning thereon by a feather or any equivalent means. Tu mounting thedisks and washers. the first disk is slipped onto the shaft against theface of a fixed collar (f), and then a washer, and then a disk, and soon until the required number have been put on, and they are then forcedagainst the fixed collar and bound and held in place by a movable collar(g) tapped onto the shaft, or otherwise secured in any appropriatemanner. The disks and washers on each of the two shafts are to be madeand mounted in precisely the same manner; but the collars on the twoshafts, relatively to the shoulders of the journals are to be so placedthat he peripheries of the disks on each shaft shall pass in the spacesbetween the disks on the other shaft to about the proportional extentrepresented in the drawings, more or less.

In making the disks and interposed washers care should be taken to havethem of uniform thickness, and the washers slightly thicker than thedisks to prevent binding as the disks on each shaft move in the spacebetween the disks on the other shaft.

I make two series of plates (It, lb) equal in number to the number ofwashers. and of about the same thickness as the disks. A hole is formedin each of suliirient diameter to fit over the washers (t2).'lhcscplatcs. Wllltll I term the eccentric clearers, are

' "m l in the spat-cs between the disks, om: ea h u hcr. I prefer tomake tintpirate: f the form represented in the drawin; with tin tailend. ("fl projecting bark of the irriphery of the disks for somedistance that tiny may be properly held by till the frame asrepresented, or in any other suitable manner, and the opposite end (j)is of an eccentric form so as to leave a considerable space between theperiphery of the disks on either shaft and the eccentric edge of theclearers on the other shaft. And the lower edge (It) should extend to orbeyond the periphery of the disks. The upper edge may be of any form butfor convenience I make it, of the same form as the lower edge.

Above the bite of the two series of disks or rolling shears I place anysuitable hopper to receive the substances to be reduced and present themto the action of the rolling shears.

If the rolling shears or disks are made of considerable diameter theangle formed by the edges of the two series where, in the rotation theyapproach each other, will be so acute that the edges will takesuliicient hold of the substances to be reduced, but to avoid thenecessity of making them of so great a diameter, which would make themtoo liable to fiexnre when meeting with unequal lateral resistance, Imake notches in their periphery of the form represented or of any othersuitable form to take hold of the substances to be reduced and feed theminto the bite of the series of rolling shears where, by the rotation inopposite directions, as indicated by arrows they are sheared and reducedto particles of a. size depending upon the thickness of the disks, orthe space between any two of them. The form of the notches or grooves isnot at all material, as the sole object is to present sullicientresistance to prevent the substances from rolling or sliding back whensubjected to the shearing action of the oppositely moving shears.

From the foregoing itwill be seen that grain (or other substances) beingsupplied to the hopper and the two series of rotating shears put inmotion as,describcd, the grain will be caught between the opposite edgesof the two series of disks or rotating shears, and as these graduallyapproach, each grain will be cut by the shear like action of the edgesof the opposite disks precisely in the same manner that any substance issevered by the gradual approach of the opposite edges of shears. And asthe two edges of any one disk, acting in conjunction with the inneredges of the opposite disks between which it passes, effect theseparation, the grain, or other substances will be thereby separatedinto particles or fibers of a size equal to the space between any twodisks, and if the substances be frangible. as grain. the .l bers orlamina rate in a granular form of a size appi wi mating to the thicknessf any of be disks, or what is about the same, the. space bet ween anytwo of the disks. But it the substance I to be reduced be not of afrangible nature,

will innnediateh sup and it is to be reduced to a granulated state insome instances it may be necessary to pass it twice through the mill, orthrough two such mills in succession.

As the particles are thus severed, in many instances they will expandand have a tendency to remain in the space between the disks, but as thedisks rotate the particles thus held between them will be graduallybrought in contact with the eccentric edges of the clearers which willgradually force them toward and discharge them at the periphery.

In constructing mills on my improved plan the thickness of the plates ordisks will have to'be governed by the size of the particles to which anydesired substance is to be reduced, as such thickness will determine themaximum size of the particles to be pro duced.

As before intimated the form of the upper part of the eccentric clearersis not material, and in fact may be dispensed with, the portion belowthe plane of the axes of the two shafts alone being necessary, but itwill be found more convenient to make them of the form represented. Andinstead of curving the edge below the axes of the shafts they may be ina tangent line as rep resented by dotted lines, or of any othe formprovided they force the particles gradually toward the periphery of thedisks, as otherwise the mill would be liable to choke.

I am aware that it has been proposed to construct. mills with two seriesof circular saws mounted on two parallel shafts, and with washersinterposed between the several saws of each series, the teeth of oneseries of saws working in the spaces between the saws of the otherseries, and one series rotating with -a greater velocity than the other.But the mode of operation of this is en tirely ditlerent from my saidinvention as the mechanical action of such a construction is todisintegrate substances by a sawing operation, the teeth onthat seriesof saws which move with the least velocity acting as holders of thesubstances to be reduced while the teeth on the other series of sawsrasp or scrape and finally'saw through the said substances, and theproduct will be essential] saw dust-a result neither contemplated y me,nor produced by my said invention. And such a construction would beattended with a serious inconvenience as the edges of the saw teethwould soon become 'dull' and require to be frequently resharpened. And Iam also aware that it has been propo ed to construct. mills by combiningtwo r: rs on parallel shafts, geared to rotate in opposite directionsand each with a different velocity; each roller being composed ofcircular disks or saws with tech on their wripheries, and the saws oftwo (liameters each small saw interposed between two large ones, and thelarge saws of each roller working in the spaces bet-ween the large sawsof the other roller, so that the teeth on the large saws or disks of oneroller shall act in conjunction with the teeth on the periphery of thesmall saws of the other roller to effect the reduction of substances bya combined scraping, or sawing and crushing action, a mode of operationnot at all analogous to my said invention. And therefore I do not wishto be understood as claiming broadly the use of two series of circulardisks on parallel rotating shafts with the periphery of one seriesworking in the spaces between the disks of the other series except whenarranged so as to have a mode of operation such as I have invented anddescribed above.

\Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent inthe construction of mills for reducing substances is- 1. The employmentof two series of rotating shears, constructed substantially asdescribed, combined with each other and with a suitable hopper for thesupply of the ma.- terial to be reduced, and having a mode of operation,substantially such. as herein described 2. And I also claim incombination with the two series of rotating shears for reducingsubstances, subs antially as described, the two series of eccentricclearers, substantially such as described.

THOS. BLANCHARD. wii H than

